Most helpful positive review

With my participation in a Braun promotion, I have used the electric razor for a some time now and would like to provide some thoughts to help guide your electric razor decision. I am a bit of a razor junkie, owning the Braun Series 7, Activator, and also a few models from Norelco. Since I have fairly sensitive skin, even though each razor performed well, all left varying degrees of skin irritation behind. I usually mitigated this by using after shave or lotions, but what this razor has done is very innovative and honestly has saved me a lot of money in aftershave and skin lotions. For the purposes of this review, I will compare to the Braun Series 7 because it is similar in design and branding, as well as a traditional Gillette razor because many will be coming from this setup.

Shaving Performance

The shaver performs at a high level and with some time you will get results comparable to a Gillette razor. Compared to a Series 7 the results are similar, but because the Series 7 has a faster motor, less passes are required, although this benefit also comes at the expense of higher prices. Each shaver has Braun Optifoil screen which is essential a set of oblong shapes on the foil to catch more hairs. I can attest that compared to many of Braun's older shavers, this feature does work very well. Battery life is very similar to the Series 7, giving about 50 minutes of shaving even is the CoolTec is activated. To give a good perspective, I have ranked them below:

Comfort for the CoolTec is paramount primarily due to the CoolTec sensation that is provided while shaving. The science behind this feature is that as you shave; your skin temperature goes up, thus causing irritation with further shaving. Keep your skin cool helps reduce this occurrence, therefore no need for aftershave/lotions! The cooling feature takes ten seconds or so to kick in, but it makes for very comfortable results.Compared to the Series 7 and Gillette razors, comfort is night and day for those with sensitive skin. With the Series 7, there is harshness to your skin which creates bumps or bleeding, I would assume due to both the speed of the shaver and heat level of the skin. The CoolTec shaves at a slower clip and cools the skin down, which means it will take longer to shave, but you will be very comfortable with that shave.

Convenience

In terms of convenience, both the CoolTec and Series 7 have cleaning bases. What this allows you to do is after each shave, you can place the razor in an accompanying base which will automatically clean and charge the razor. This removes an maintenance you may need to do (other than the 18 month blade change) because the shaver is cleaned and lubricated after each shave. It should be noted that these cleaning cartridges do run about $1 USD each week, so it is an investment. In lieu of this, you can clean the shave under running water and invest in a bottle of Shaver Saver to get the same results but with more manual intervention. Overall the shave base is nice in that my sink real estate is saved a bit by sprawling cords and shaver parts drying all over the place, and I feel the investment is worth it.

Price

The price component is a big differentiator for many, with nearly a $100 USD difference between the two razors.What you will find is that the Series 7 is the Lexus of the group, with very fast performance, extra bells and whistles (three modes of shaving), and nicer aesthetics. This razor is excellent and honestly you can't go wrong selecting this on a deal.The CoolTec shaver is very much a specialty razor. Essentially you will get the same results as a Series 7 because the foil is very similar. The difference will be in shaving time because of the slower motor on the CoolTec. What you gain is the ability to cool your face down and greatly increase comfort during the shaving process. This makes for one of the only electric shavers today tailor made for those with sensitive skin.

Summary

To summarize, Braun has a real winner here and a very big product differentiator from competitors. Being that the CoolTec is essentially a Series 3 with a cooling module, I can see them putting this feature on all Series models in future iterations because it works so well. Braun packages this German-made shaver very well and includes Carrying Case, Cleaning Base, Fluid, and Shaver. Of the 15+ shavers I have used in my lifetime (and some manual shaving too), this razor is by far the best because instead of making the motors bigger and faster, Braun decided to focus on comfort as well. Not having to spend countless dollars on aftershave/lotion alone makes this razor a great return on investment. Should you not like the razor, Braun does offer a 60-day return period, but I doubt you will need it!

Most helpful critical review

I was very excited to purchase the cool tec shaver, as I was hoping it would be the "magic bullet" in my desire to get a clean, close shave with minimal irritation. I should start however, by saying that I've been using electric shavers for the better part of 30 years. I've stuck closely to foil shavers as rotary just didn't work for me. I have got a quick growing dark beard with a lot of grey. I have used many Braun's including the Series 7, which I feel is still the best Braun available.

I am currently using a Panasonic ES-LA 63, which in my opinion, may be the best shaver out there for the price / performance.

On to the review of the Cool-Tec. Firstly, this is a series 5 shaver as noted on the box. That's not a good thing when you need a very high speed shaver to get the tough areas that even the Series 7 had challenges with. The Cool-Tec, is a larger shaver and comes with the cleaning system from Braun, which I am less a fan of after using the Panasonic which I simply wash out under the sink. As for actual shaver performance, for me it is a middle of the pack shaver. It definitely had its challenges getting the tough hairs on the bottom of my neck and just under my jaw line. Although you feel the cooling action of the aluminum bar, its still no replacement for a good pre shave lotion like Lectric Shave or an actual shave gel or foam which I currently use with my ES-LA63 with great results.

So hoping for no irritation - that is not the case with this shaver. As with any shaver it takes a few weeks to get through the irritation period, however as I have purchased many electric shavers over the years, I know within 1-2 shaves what the shaver will be like in this regard. Braun suggests not using any lotion or pre-shave and that just didn't work for me. I had massive red blotches on my lower neck area.

I did ok by my chin and upper lip area however that was tempered by the fact that it took quite a few more passes to get it to that level.

Again, comparing to my Panasonic, it was no match.

Conclusion:

I will be:

1. Returning the Cool - Tec2 Sticking with the Panasonic brand as its 13,000 RPM motors work a lot better for my beard.

If you don't want a wet shave, I would go with a Series 7 well before buying the Cool-Tec.

Also, I would highly recommend Kiehl's shave lotion as it does a tremendous job coupled with the Panasonic shavers.

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I was very excited to purchase the cool tec shaver, as I was hoping it would be the "magic bullet" in my desire to get a clean, close shave with minimal irritation. I should start however, by saying that I've been using electric shavers for the better part of 30 years. I've stuck closely to foil shavers as rotary just didn't work for me. I have got a quick growing dark beard with a lot of grey. I have used many Braun's including the Series 7, which I feel is still the best Braun available.

I am currently using a Panasonic ES-LA 63, which in my opinion, may be the best shaver out there for the price / performance.

On to the review of the Cool-Tec. Firstly, this is a series 5 shaver as noted on the box. That's not a good thing when you need a very high speed shaver to get the tough areas that even the Series 7 had challenges with. The Cool-Tec, is a larger shaver and comes with the cleaning system from Braun, which I am less a fan of after using the Panasonic which I simply wash out under the sink. As for actual shaver performance, for me it is a middle of the pack shaver. It definitely had its challenges getting the tough hairs on the bottom of my neck and just under my jaw line. Although you feel the cooling action of the aluminum bar, its still no replacement for a good pre shave lotion like Lectric Shave or an actual shave gel or foam which I currently use with my ES-LA63 with great results.

So hoping for no irritation - that is not the case with this shaver. As with any shaver it takes a few weeks to get through the irritation period, however as I have purchased many electric shavers over the years, I know within 1-2 shaves what the shaver will be like in this regard. Braun suggests not using any lotion or pre-shave and that just didn't work for me. I had massive red blotches on my lower neck area.

I did ok by my chin and upper lip area however that was tempered by the fact that it took quite a few more passes to get it to that level.

Again, comparing to my Panasonic, it was no match.

Conclusion:

I will be:

1. Returning the Cool - Tec2 Sticking with the Panasonic brand as its 13,000 RPM motors work a lot better for my beard.

If you don't want a wet shave, I would go with a Series 7 well before buying the Cool-Tec.

Also, I would highly recommend Kiehl's shave lotion as it does a tremendous job coupled with the Panasonic shavers.

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With my participation in a Braun promotion, I have used the electric razor for a some time now and would like to provide some thoughts to help guide your electric razor decision. I am a bit of a razor junkie, owning the Braun Series 7, Activator, and also a few models from Norelco. Since I have fairly sensitive skin, even though each razor performed well, all left varying degrees of skin irritation behind. I usually mitigated this by using after shave or lotions, but what this razor has done is very innovative and honestly has saved me a lot of money in aftershave and skin lotions. For the purposes of this review, I will compare to the Braun Series 7 because it is similar in design and branding, as well as a traditional Gillette razor because many will be coming from this setup.

Shaving Performance

The shaver performs at a high level and with some time you will get results comparable to a Gillette razor. Compared to a Series 7 the results are similar, but because the Series 7 has a faster motor, less passes are required, although this benefit also comes at the expense of higher prices. Each shaver has Braun Optifoil screen which is essential a set of oblong shapes on the foil to catch more hairs. I can attest that compared to many of Braun's older shavers, this feature does work very well. Battery life is very similar to the Series 7, giving about 50 minutes of shaving even is the CoolTec is activated. To give a good perspective, I have ranked them below:

Comfort for the CoolTec is paramount primarily due to the CoolTec sensation that is provided while shaving. The science behind this feature is that as you shave; your skin temperature goes up, thus causing irritation with further shaving. Keep your skin cool helps reduce this occurrence, therefore no need for aftershave/lotions! The cooling feature takes ten seconds or so to kick in, but it makes for very comfortable results.Compared to the Series 7 and Gillette razors, comfort is night and day for those with sensitive skin. With the Series 7, there is harshness to your skin which creates bumps or bleeding, I would assume due to both the speed of the shaver and heat level of the skin. The CoolTec shaves at a slower clip and cools the skin down, which means it will take longer to shave, but you will be very comfortable with that shave.

Convenience

In terms of convenience, both the CoolTec and Series 7 have cleaning bases. What this allows you to do is after each shave, you can place the razor in an accompanying base which will automatically clean and charge the razor. This removes an maintenance you may need to do (other than the 18 month blade change) because the shaver is cleaned and lubricated after each shave. It should be noted that these cleaning cartridges do run about $1 USD each week, so it is an investment. In lieu of this, you can clean the shave under running water and invest in a bottle of Shaver Saver to get the same results but with more manual intervention. Overall the shave base is nice in that my sink real estate is saved a bit by sprawling cords and shaver parts drying all over the place, and I feel the investment is worth it.

Price

The price component is a big differentiator for many, with nearly a $100 USD difference between the two razors.What you will find is that the Series 7 is the Lexus of the group, with very fast performance, extra bells and whistles (three modes of shaving), and nicer aesthetics. This razor is excellent and honestly you can't go wrong selecting this on a deal.The CoolTec shaver is very much a specialty razor. Essentially you will get the same results as a Series 7 because the foil is very similar. The difference will be in shaving time because of the slower motor on the CoolTec. What you gain is the ability to cool your face down and greatly increase comfort during the shaving process. This makes for one of the only electric shavers today tailor made for those with sensitive skin.

Summary

To summarize, Braun has a real winner here and a very big product differentiator from competitors. Being that the CoolTec is essentially a Series 3 with a cooling module, I can see them putting this feature on all Series models in future iterations because it works so well. Braun packages this German-made shaver very well and includes Carrying Case, Cleaning Base, Fluid, and Shaver. Of the 15+ shavers I have used in my lifetime (and some manual shaving too), this razor is by far the best because instead of making the motors bigger and faster, Braun decided to focus on comfort as well. Not having to spend countless dollars on aftershave/lotion alone makes this razor a great return on investment. Should you not like the razor, Braun does offer a 60-day return period, but I doubt you will need it!

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I just experienced the best shave of my life. Braun was running a program that afforded me the opportunity to try out the Braun Cooltec system. I never knew that shaving at such cooler temperatures could make that big of a difference but it did! I don't think I can ever go back to conventional razors or shaver again! This new technology is amazing from the closest shave ever with no irritation to talk about. Even the charging station that cleans the shaver for me after I'm done...........Well done Braun! Well done!

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I was pretty nervous to try out an electric razor again, but it was recommended to me and I'm a glutton for new-tech... We'll start there.. The two blades contour nicely to my face without much effort, the cooling feature is refreshing and feels especially nice if you're in a hot shower, and the handle fits easily in my hand and has enough weight to feel a little luxurious.

Honestly I thought going electric would save me time, however considering the amount of time I have to put into shaving my neck, I don't think I gained anything in the speed department. In addition, while I can shave in the shower (which may help save time), I would have to install a non-fog mirror to assist me at this point.

The cleaner works well, and leaves a scent of alcohol on the razor.. I kind of like that so no complaints. Just smells very clean and fresh.

Although I'm not setting any new speed records, I gave this product 4 stars. I wasn't very fast when I first started using a manual razor, so I'm going to give this one the benefit of the doubt that I will get more efficient in how I manage it.

First things first: The cooling bar is truly amazing. The sensation it creates absolutely helps fight skin irritation and it reduces friction.

Unfortunately, for as terrific as the cooling system is, the shave this model provides is TERRIBLE. It struggles with handling some five o'clock stubble. If you have any facial hair longer than a few millimeters, prepare to spend a great deal of time trying to get a close shave. At which point you'll just give up.

I respect (and as a tech-y early adopter appreciate) the innovation of this model, but this is first an foremost a shaving device. As such, it can not be recommended.

I had previously been using the top of the line Panasonic model, which despite it's awful cleaning system and terrible customer support, provides a markedly closer shave.

I had the series 7 before and it was much better. The cooltec does not get as close of a shave, the trimmer is in a odd position, and the while it does cool I do not feel it's worth it. Just a cool gimmick trying to make a sell. I'm sending back under the 60 day money back guarantee and will be ordering a new Series 7.

Shave 5 star - may not be as close as other systems, but my need is to be able to shave daily at all.Amazon disclosures re: product - 0 stars - Can't return it because cleaning solution flammable.Amazon customer service - 5 stars - took care of my problem and made what I was sure was going to be a frustrating ordeal into a pleasant experience. Good job Amit.

I understand not being able to return the "flammable" cleaning solution.

I had my doubts I would be able to use this because I haven't been able to frequently use any shaving system, ever.

It works well, but mine came with a nick in the cooling bar so I figured I would exchange it through amazon.

NOPE. can't select the product to return with a note about it containing hazardous materials. I guess I will pursue it over the phone or through Braun, but this a real F-you to not disclose that when ordering.

Update, went through help to find a chat window and customer service rep made everything ok.

The razor. I can understand how those who can use any razor would say it's not the best shave. I still feel a barely noticeable stubble. My problem is, no matter what technique, razor, blade, cream, lotion, pre treatment, method, I have used in the past, if I shaved more than 2x per week I would get a horrible rash. If I have a special event on a saturday, I literally would not shave for at least 4 days and then just before I put on my shirt and headed out the door I would shave and hope I didn't break out. Many times sunday morning I would have a slight rash.

With this system, I let it run a minute to get cold and then shave every morning. one time when it felt a little sensitive, I stopped, took off the cartridge and just ran the cooling bar over my face. no breakout, no problems.

I can't tell you how nice it is to have a shaving option now.

When I first started using it, I noticed what others commented about re: not cutting a lot of barely too long hairs. I used some of that feedback to trim each of those with the clipper and then shave them. after a couple days, no stray long hairs.

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I recently got to use the Braun CoolTec electric razor that was provided to me via a program run by Braun and I must say I am surprised by how much I enjoyed using it. Often times I have had problems with skin irritation whether I used a manual or electric razor, shaving cream or gel, hot water, or any other method to minimize razor burn.

At first, I didn't think this CoolTec system would really make that much of a difference but it was a relief to find that I was wrong. It gave a nice smooth close shave and the cooling that comes off of such a small strip for the CoolTec system calmed my skin as I shaved.

I have to say there were a lot of things to like about the razor and the CoolTec feature: close shave, calm skin, cool feel, quick charge, familiar Braun charging and cleaning station, etc.The only thing I think is not perfect about this is I would have wished that the cooling strip was a slight bit wider, but overall still well above expectations and I would certainly recommend this product to others.

UPDATE:After a few weeks of use I still stand by my original review in that it is a nice close shave and the cooltec feature is an added benefit. I like the size and feel while holding the razor and it is quick and easy to clean and charge.

One negative point I have is that I am a little disappointed in the long hair trimmer feature on this electric razor as I have used other Braun electric razors previously and the long hair trimmer worked just fine for sideburns or if I didn't shave for a few days and let my beard/mustache grow out. Other than that I am still quite pleased with the razor and think that the cooltec feature is a nice addition to an electric razor.

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I’ve been a devout user of a manual razor ever since I started shaving in my late teenage years. I have tough facial hair and like the smooth closeness that I am able to achieve using my manual razor. I’ve tried a few electric shavers in the past, but have never been impressed by the results. When I received an offer to try the CoolTec via a program run by Braun, I thought there was no harm in trying the product out. The Braun CoolTec’s main selling point is that it has a cooling bar, which is meant to minimize redness, burning, and skin irritation from shaving. Does it work? Yes and no. It has some advantages but they are unfortunately outweighed by the negatives, which have made me go back to my manual razor.

PROS: I found that the Braun CoolTec delivers on its promises regarding the active cooling technology, cleaning system, and comfortable design.

REFRESHINGLY COOLThe cooling bar definitely works and added a level of refreshing comfort to my skin which I had never experienced before. Unlike electric razors that I have tried in the past, it did not pinch my skin or pull my hair. The combination of the cooling bar and the lubricated blades helped the razor glide across my skin effortlessly. This is a great product for anyone who has sensitive skin or suffers from razor burn.

EASY TO CLEANCleaning is extremely easy and allows for a refreshing experience even after repeated uses. The razor is accompanied by a base which serves as a charger and cleaning station. This keeps the product clean and lubricated. It is also easy to rinse the razor in the sink since it comes with a easily detachable head. The maintenance on this product is therefore quite minimal.

EASY TO GRIPRight out of the box, I was very impressed by the design of the razor. It is compact, modern-looking, and easy-to-grip. The handle fits easily in my hand and the razor contours to the shape of my face effortlessly. Because of its compact size, it is easy to carry along when travelling and comes with a sleek travel case.

CONS: I found that the Braun CoolTec failed to deliver when it came to closeness of the shave and efficiency – two factors that matter most to me.

NOT CLOSE ENOUGHI have tough facial hair and am accustomed to a clean, close shave with my manual razor. I found it very challenging to get a similar level of closeness in my shave using the Braun CoolTec even after going over the same areas several times. Likewise, no matter how I maneuvered the device, I was left with stray hair below my jaw line and neck, which I ultimately had to clean up using a manual razor. Furthermore, when I tried shaving on a some short stubble, there were minimal results because the hair was not long enough.

NOT FAST ENOUGHI had expected that in comparison to a manual razor, the electric razor would be allow me to complete my shave more quickly because no shaving creams were required and the cooling bar allowed for effortless gliding across my skin. However, because I found myself having to go over the same areas (particularly on the neck) several times in order to get a clean shave, it actually took me almost 10 minutes longer to complete my shave using the Braun CoolTec. I couldn’t really afford to spend this extra time in the mornings before work, especially when the results were subpar.

SUMMARYI think the preference for choice of shaving device is highly dependent upon the user. Manual vs Electric, Wet vs Dry, etc. The choices in the market are vast. I think I’m just one of those men who prefers a classic wet shave with shaving lotion and a manual razor. I cannot get a smoother results by any other method. I think the Braun CoolTec is an innovative product and will definitely be loved by a lot of individuals, especially those with sensitive skin that suffer from irritation. I tried very hard to give this product a chance and used it continually for three weeks to see if I would get accustomed to it, but the performance did not meet my standards.